


Music's End; Reprise

by wormy_business



Series: End of the Song [2]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Get ready to cry, I'm very sorry, but also because it makes me sad, but uh, mostly because i was procrastinating, no archive warnings cause i dont wanna give away what happens, this is very upsetting, this took me 4 months to write
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-05-31 09:42:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19423408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wormy_business/pseuds/wormy_business
Summary: Several weeks after Avi is given a service dog, he and many Bureau of Balance members are moving off of the Moon Base. This is a direct sequel to my work "Music's End", I would highly recommend reading that first.





	Music's End; Reprise

“Alright, I’ll see you in a few hours, uhm, hold down the fort, keep it spooky. . .” Taako trailed off, sighing and rubbing the back of his neck. The red robed lich form of his dear sister lingered next to him, and placed her spectral, skeletal hand on his shoulder.

“You seem bummed. You don’t wanna help Lucretia? You know if I had a body I would-”

“It’s not that.” Taako cut her off, his bangs falling into his face. “I just, I have a really bad feeling, is all. Like, like something’s wrong.’

Lup looked at him for a moment, then moved so she was in front of him. “I dunno, I feel like everything’s pretty good here, except for bone-boy being late, and you being all sad.”

“Y-Yeah, chin up Taako, I’m sure everything will be fine.”

He smiled a little, feeling Barry’s hand on his shoulder, and then pushed it off after a moment, a smirk returning to his face as he turned to tease him, but something else took over him, and his smirk turned into a gentle smile. “You know what, Barry? As long as your jeans are blue, everything’s gonna be just fine.”

Not a minute too soon a transport sphere descended from the sky, Merle and Magnus already sitting inside. Taako attempted to hug his incorporeal sister and loaded himself inside, feeling a little more squished than usual due to Barry joining the sphere with them. The four waved goodbye to Lup, who stood outside watching as the sphere took to the sky again, lifting them back up to the moon base.

It was moving day, and Bureau members were running about, gathering their things and loading them into spheres. Taako was the first to get out of the transport sphere, and he immediately began fussing over his clothes, straightening them out and dusting them off. Magnus exited the sphere and hugged Lucretia who was standing nearby, catching her off guard as she let out a little sound of surprise, followed by her calm voice requesting Magnus put her back down. Merle gave the Captain a firm handshake, and then a gentle hug between old friends. They chatted a little, Merle boasting about the community he was going to help rebuild and Cap’nport lamenting he still wasn’t sure what he was going to do once he was done moving out of the Moon Base. Barry stood next to Taako, who had finally finished making adjustments to his outfit, the two of them waiting idly by until they were to begin work. Magnus insisted on helping Avi, and no one protested. Avi and Johann had lived together in their room for several months before The Day of Story and Song, packing up all those memories was sure going to be hard on him. Lucretia had swept Barry away to discuss something with him, leaving Magnus, Merle, and Taako to head down to the lowest levels of the Moon Base. Taako’s ears swiveled forward as the elevator dinged. 

“Soprano.” He said out loud, interrupting the conversation Merle and Magnus were having.

“What?” Merle asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

“What about her?” Magnus inquired as he stepped out of the elevator with the other two following behind. 

“I can hear her barking.” Taako stated, the pit in his stomach feeling heavier than before.

Magnus stared at Taako, then took off in a sprint down the hallway toward Avi’s room.

The door burst open with a slam, Magnus nearly taking it off his hinges. Avi’s service dog, Soprano, was sitting on the floor, barking at the feet suspended in the air. Magnus wrapped his arms around Avi and swiftly cut the ropes holding him up. Merle entered the doorway as Magnus laid him on the floor. 

“Merle!” He shouted, his voice cracking. “Heal him! Now!”

Merle approached, fingers brushing over his Xtreme Teen Bible, then down to Avi’s wrist as he knelt next to him. 

“I, I can’t. There’s nothing I can do, Magnus.”

Magnus rose, his body shaking, his hands clenched tightly into fists, and he punched the wall of the Moon Base. Merle stepped back as Magnus got to his side again, pulling his friend into his arms, his body was already starting to lose heat. Big, hot tears rolled down Magnus’s cheeks and mixed with the hairs of his beard. Taako placed a hand on his shoulder, holding his hat to his chest. Merle lowered his head and kneeled next to the dog who had laid herself next to Avi. She was whining, and nudged Avi’s limp hand several times. The room was filled with Magnus’s soft sobbing, interlaced with a single repeated word. Why?

Avi dipped his quill into the inkwell on the corner of his desk and tapped off the excess. He began writing, his handwriting as messy as usual.

_ I’m sorry. I know I promised I would be strong, but I’m just not. Ever since I lost Johann, this pain has been me eating me slowly from the inside out. It feels like an emptiness that’s slowly taking over my whole body. I can’t stand this feeling. I can’t stand the loneliness anymore. Don’t blame yourself for what I’m going to do. I know people are going to hurt when I’m gone, but I don’t want you to hurt yourselves over my decisions. I love all of you dearly, as I would my own family, and it hurts me to leave you, but the pain is just a shadow in a pool of darkness. I’ll see you all again one day, I promise. I know I promised to be strong, but this is a promise I can keep. Don’t cry for me, not for too long. Know that wherever I am, I’m with Johann again. I love you all. _

_ -Avi _

He gently pat Soprano on the head twice as he moved past her, walking to his bedside table where he had the framed picture of Johann Magnus had gifted him with. He smiled at the picture, and pressed his lips gently to the glass as he had done hundreds of times already. He set the picture back down, fingers tracing the face of the love of his life.

“You won’t have to wait much longer, I’m coming.” He whispered to photograph. As he turned his eyes flicked to his service dog. She had been a nice addition to his daily life, he felt bad about leaving her. He got to his knees and wrapped his arms around her, pressing his face into her mass of fur as she placed a paw on his back. “Sorry, Soprano. You were such a good girl, and I love you.” He kissed the dog on her head and stood up again. He felt the sting of tears in his eyes, a feeling he had grown quite accustomed to. He pulled a small wooden box out from underneath his bed and opened it. He smiled at the hand crafted rings inside. He had only been two weeks away from proposing. He slid the box into his pocket, and reached to retrieve a second larger box. Inside was nothing but a section of rope. Avi was strong enough to hold himself up on the rafters as he secured the rope on one of the central beams, and then laid the circle of the noose around his neck. Soprano started barking at him, but she couldn’t reach him from where she was. Avi smiled, touching the box in his pocket as he released both of his hands from around the beam. He could feel himself falling, then he felt a sharp pain in his neck, and then he felt nothing.

His eyes opened again, the bright of the white around him blinding him for a moment, and as he raised a hand over his eyes, he saw a rift open in front of him. From this rift appeared a man, his sharp jawline and intense eyes were of a man he had seen before, with Taako on his arm. The reaper looked solemnly on the dead man before extending a hand to him. 

“It’s time to go.”

* * *

Taako felt a cold hand on his shoulder. Moving efforts on the Moon Base were immediately halted when word got out. When Barry and Taako returned to the home they shared with their respective lovers, Magnus was crying with Carey and Killian, and Merle and Davenport were helping Lucretia. Their ride back had been silent. Taako felt, off. He had never personally been very close with Avi, but he still considered him a friend. Even more than that, seeing Magnus so torn up made his heart hurt.

Taako turned to face Kravitz who had his head down, his hair obscuring sections of his face. 

“I’m sorry, Taako. I should have-”

“No, no don’t be sorry. It’s, just c’mere.” Taako said as he turned towards his boyfriend and opened his arms. Kravitz embraced his love, squeezing him tight. It wasn’t that he was necessarily sad about Avi, he dealt with the dead every single day, but he felt that he should have told Taako or at least given him a warning. He could at least say one thing, the indescribable joy he could see in Avi’s face as he sprinted towards Johann across the sea of souls was the look of a man who looked happy for the first time in a very, very long time.


End file.
